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Forum editorial: Political silliness wins weed

Leafy spurge: To the political opponents of Heidi Heitkamp, the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate from North Dakota, for ranting about her decision to skip the Democratic National Convention later this summer in Charlotte, N.C. What a crock. She has made the smart decision to stay home and campaign against Congressman Rick Berg, the Republican Senate candidate. Berg and his team have a formidable opponent in Heitkamp, and they know it. Her critics contend she’s staying away from the convention to distance herself from President Barack Obama and his policies. Maybe, maybe not. She does not support all of the president’s policies. Nonetheless, there’s no doubt that had she opted to attend the convention those same shrill voices would be criticizing her for “cozying up” to Obama and his liberal friends. Politics often is silly, but sometimes it’s transparently stupid, too.

Prairie roses: To the cities of Fargo and Moorhead for expanding their recycling programs by allowing more types of cardboard and plastics into the recyclables stream. The idea, of course, is to reduce the volume of trash that gets into the landfill, thus extending its life. Both cities are growing and both cities are collecting more and more trash every year. Anything that can be done to prevent trash from ending up in the landfill is good public policy.

Prairie roses: To Fargo officials and entrepreneurs who are working to find accommodations in the city’s ordinances to allow more food carts downtown. A couple of vendors are operating on private property, but current law bars others from parking their carts on the street. Given the new vitality of downtown – and the short summer – a less restrictive policy for food carts would be a good thing. They are popular in cities across the nation, and Fargo’s lively downtown can be even livelier with more outdoor food options.

Forum editorials represent the opinion of Forum management and the newspaper’s Editorial Board.